Metapost: Old-timey comics COTW!
COTW coming shortly, but first there are a number of exciting items to cover! I hope you will find them to be of interest.
First off, John Hall was the first of several faithful readers to send me a link to this amazing LA Times comics page from 1959. (I can’t actually seem to find the blog post or whatever this is actually used in on the LA Times site, but will add a link if someone points it out to me. UPDATE: Here ya go.) The whole thing is great, obviously, but here are a few of our favorite strips particularly worth noting:
Sadly, the preserved page was from one of the few days in which Dick Tracy did not depict a scene of gruesome carnage (though we apparently just missed a public drowning). Still, panel two should draw your attention, as Popsie appears to be weeping so violently that her inhumanly long tongue is dangling out. Perhaps she’s about to vomit?
Here’s Mary Worth, accosting a comical foreigner! My guess is that she shanghaied wealthy Cousin Constance, forced her to rewrite her will to make Mary the sole beneficiary, and then did away with her, explaining the condo-centered life of monied ease she has today.
This is Judge Parker. You wouldn’t know that if I hadn’t told you, because there are no tits in it.
Also! Many, many faithful readers pointed me to two interesting items. The first is Ombudsmen, a series in the PvP Webcomic that spoofs Watchmen with newspaper comic strip characters. It is funny! Also, in another sign that the end times approacheth, some Hollywood executives (who were almost certainly high, on drugs) have decreed that Marmaduke: The Movie should exist. I right now am personally volunteering to write the screenplay for this. In my vision, the film ends in the ultimate battle to the death between Marmaduke, with all his demonic powers in full force, and his owner, who has at last been revealed to be Hitler, kept alive by dark magic. There won’t be a dry eye (or pair of pants) in the house.
And, finally, faithful reader Orange Cactus sends this photo from a cybercafe in Mumbai. “Apparently Dennis is now outsourcing his non-menacing to India,” he notes. (Of course, Dennis has been on his extremely non-menacing public health kick in the US for years.)
Oh, hey, and what’s this post about? Comment of the week, innit?
“‘I heard the CIA job didn’t pan out, so she moved back here!’ ‘That’s what she said!’ has to be the worst construction of the ‘That’s what she said’ joke in recorded history.” –fancycwabs
And the hilarious runners up!
“It is so sad that Ted only has two Facebook friends. He used to have three. But then his wife died. Did you hear about his wife dying? He’s mentioned it a few times.” –Sunny Paris
“Even pluggers suffering from debilitating OCD are horrendously dull.” –Patrick
“He’s seriously injured! And look, the deer also dyed him a uniform shade of bright blue before it left! It may seem cruel to do that, but it’s nature’s way. I see it already coated you, Patty. Kind of stings, doesn’t it? You know, poachers kill tens of deer every year to sell their blueing glands to Chinese apothecaries.” –ouranosaurus
“Ashley! Watch out for that vampire going after your wrist in the hospital! The only thing worse than life in Milford is eternal unlife in Milford!” –Lithros
“Yes, every plugger must struggle with the three C’s: cholesterol, constipation, and crushing despair.” –Joe Blevins
“Recent structural changes to strips like FOOB and Winkerbean have me musing on the advantages of jumping Hi and Lois back or ahead a decade. Chip could be a new employee at Foofram Industries, working at a soul-stripping non-job at the desk next to Dad, with his long hair long since chopped to corporate-approved length and middle-aged bald patch well on the way. Dot and Ditto could be strung-out lookalikes, mooning for quarters down at the bus station for their next fix. Trixie would be ten-and-a-half, still in diapers, still unable to speak a word, forgotten by the rest of the family, continuing to mutter on internally about some damm Sunbeam. And Lois would be lounging around all day amongst bottles of Plovdiv, giggling insanely about recent parties that never actually happened. As for resetting the strip back ten years, it would at least eliminate the irritating younger characters.” –Mooncattie
“I don’t know what creeps me out more about this particular Gil Thorp entry: The old man pretending to be a trainer so he can reach up Ashley’s trunks to make sure her knee is OK, or the floating head that seems to be haunting Ashley’s bedside, hoping to have finally found a suitable body donor.” –Terry Loves Cricket
“Beetle Bailey may be guilty of a lot of stuff, including the crudest of racial caricature and casual misogyny, but there’s one thing you can’t accuse it of: relevance.” –teddytoad
“The reason that Alice got that error message is that she mis-typed her password. There’s only one e in infanticide.” –seismic-2
“No wonder the computer crashes … there’s no steering wheel. Also, you stink of gin and desperation. More importantly, 90% of the things we do, the stuff we own, and the clothes we wear would indicate that we still live in the fifties, so I can’t image that you would really understand how to use a computer. I don’t get them either, to be honest, but at least I have the excuse of being a five year old. I’m going to go sit in the corner now, because clearly expressing my opinion or showing any individuality is a punishable offense in the house. Do you know why I hang around with an ass like Mr. Wilson? Because at least he knows how to express an emotion, you cold witch. Menace out!” –PoeWar
“I think it is obvious that Patty is insane and Ken actually died as a result of his dealings with his antlered nemesis. Battered-Patty has now brought him back in the only way she can: by painting his two-dimensional face and shoulders onto the pillow.” –diddly
“The only thing that tastes worse than castor oil is cod liver oil. Or maybe the sour essence of defeat that every plugger must sample.” –Islamorada Girl
“So, what laxatives might other comic characters use? I figure Mark Trail eats grasses and ferns until things clear up.” –Brick Bradford
“That second panel of Mary Worth with the ‘Fragile … vulnerable … young…’ is one of the creepiest things ever. I think it’s his facial non-expression. I can’t help but imagine it being followed with a truly vile slurping sound as he licks his lips.” –Danel
“Haha, Ed! Just keep that suit on. You’ll save the undertaker the trouble of dressing you when it’s your turn.” –Harold
“You can’t blame me for being reluctant to let go! You know I hate it when people are happy; that’s what first attracted me to you.” –Alan’s Addiction
“In four out of seven panels, Lois’ eyes have seized open to a degree that can only be explained by a mescaline binge. I think she’s freaking out. ‘Who are all these kids? Why are they all screaming? Holy @#%#, one’s an alien! Must … escape.’” –David Schraub
“The real gold in Mary Worth today is panel four. Dr. Jeff voices an independent thought and he immediately shrinks coweringly as his eyes flash to his right to look for the blow he’s been conditioned to expect.” –Edgy DC
“Clearly there is only one way this Mary Worth plotline can end: with Ted cheating on Adrian, followed by her running back to the arms of her childhood sweetheart Anthony in a pairing heartily endorsed by her just-a-bit-too-controlling father. Wait, what?” –Windier E. Megatons
“Patty and Ken: Here’s to your future horrible half-ungulate, half sapien spawn. May it be the glue that keeps your abusive forest home together forever — or at least in shamed silence that none shall ever speak of or illustrate again.” –Lettuce
“My first thought was that April is, of course, still in the CIA. My second thought was, I wonder what’s for lunch? Then I wandered around for a little while thinking about bears and how it would be nice to see one again in Mark Trail.” –Bootsy
“Slylock’s official-looking ‘Warrant,’ when examined more closely, consists of nothing more than the lyrics to ‘Cherry Pie’ transcribed in a clumsy scrawl with crude, cringe-inducing illustrations to match. That’s the only explanation I can imagine for the expression on Koppy’s face.” –One-Eyed Wolfdog
As ever, tip jar contributors are the real heroes of the week! And our advertisers are none too shabby either:
- United State of Tara: One woman. Multiple personalities. All new episode Sunday at 10:00 pm, or watch it on demand anytime, on Showtime. Click to view extended scenes now!
To find out more about advertising on this site, click here.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:18 am
I definitely hear an echo of the powerful “capisce?” unleashed by Mary Worth against the unassuming Aldo Kelrast!
March 10th, 2009 at 12:20 am
Y139 Niall – God almighty, the Arfenhouse movies make more sense than Night Of The Carrots. o_O
Father and Daughter, though…yeah, that was a tear-jerker, alright. Beautiful score, too.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Congratulations and tossed flowers to fancycwabs and the rest of you funny floaters! I get the satisfaction of having spotted several of the winners and thinking “bet that one gets to ride this week.”
March 10th, 2009 at 12:46 am
The 1959 L.A. Times comics are from the Daily Mirror blog. You can find more vintage comics there and lots of other interesting items.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:48 am
The dog-thing in the 1959 LA Times comic ‘Napoleon’ can only suggest that There exists some Dr. Who-esque body transfer goings on in the comic strip world. What else would explain the Cthuloid presence of… Marmaduke?
March 10th, 2009 at 12:52 am
And that old DT strip reminds me of an older DT storyline in which the Summer Sisters were tortured by The Brow and then (slowly) drowned, and then their bodies were shown floating and dead. Good times, good times.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Aw, I’m honored and humbled!
March 10th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Man I miss Brenda Starr and Terry And The Pirates. Always wanted to see a Brenda Starr/ Phantom crossover when I was a kid, and Terry and The Pirates was so exotic and ’40’s talking.
In ‘59 Frank Frazetta was penciling Lil Abner.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Also, the Lil Abner strip is about “Fearless Fosdick”, Al Capps parody of Dick Tracy
March 10th, 2009 at 1:11 am
2. commodorejohn: aheh. Yeah. Now, imagine this: “Night of the Carrots” is the most accessible, least-deranged, most linear and least weird of the Estonian animation oeuvre. We had a decade to get used to it before the experimental one. You… would not be ready.
There has to be something in the water.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Mary Worth has relatives? I sort of just assumed she was spawned at the creation of the universe to serve as a counterpoint to God.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:20 am
#10 Niall – Phew. That is something.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Congrats to the float riders and especially to fancycwabs!
Oh the snarking is ripe today.
C’haft It’s like watching a geranium die. It takes forfuckin’Ever.
DtNM you know, Dennis, not so long ago we would have sold you to the local coal mines. Take THAT as a tip and shut the hell up.
Children of the Circle Tough talk from Angry Jeffy! Yeah, pick on the baby, Jeffy.
Farky Wondersnort Jumbo sized smirk!
Scenes from Suburban Hell Man, they don’t make hats like that pipe-smoking garbageman’s hat any more.
Judge Partypooper Psst! Hey Yer Honor! All your guests are on their way out the door because you’re spending all your time talking to the same guy you shared an office with for the past umpteen years! Yeah buddy, you sure can throw a party…away.
Shallow & Sweet oh geez, more of the TJ has an inappropriate thing for Luann plotline.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:40 am
The crying woman in that DT strip is the stuff nightmares are made of. Yes, the deteroriation of the newsprint probably makes it look worse, but still…gaaah.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Fist O Justice Theater It’s official: Jack Elrod is a fucktard.
Yes, Ken; you DO have to apologize. Repeatedly and to several people; Patty first and foremost for being such a Dickweed; to Mark for suspecting HIM of all people of fooling around when you should know damn well Mark Trail doesn’t know up from down on a human female; and to all the readers of Mark Trail for reading this storyline about boo hoo poor little old You.
Fuck you, Jackelrod, and the ball you rolled in on!
March 10th, 2009 at 1:44 am
Congrats to the COTWeekers!
MT: Why can’t the wrap-up involve Mark sitting at the mysterious office of his widow-peaked “friend in the forest service” who knows all about Ken’s financial woes? But then I thought if not for Mark’s intervention, Jack Elrod would have been stuck showing Ken and Patty’s awkward attempts to have sex.
Sex Organ, M.D.: In the end, just like his namesake Oedipus Rex, our Dr. Rex will conduct an extensive examination of the path of the epidemic and eventually figure out that his taboo-breaking sex acts have been at the root of the whole problem. The good news is that orally transmitted genital herpes is usually not fatal.
MW: What’s the sound of an exclamation mark coming out of Adrian’s mouth? I imagine it’s similar to the one-handed clapping I use to applaud every fresh new Mary Worth strip. Still, Ted really shouldn’t be so worried about eloping to save on costs — it’s still America and Dr. Jeff’s on the hook for the wedding costs for his, as far as we know, only daughter.
A3G: Congratulations to Frank and Lisa for breaking exciting new ground with today’s strip as Martin Magee breaks the blond barrier for the first time! Unless, of course, this is just another coloring screwup.
DtM: Dennis asking about why his dad doesn’t tip the mom after she serves dinner? Not menacing. Dennis asking if why his dad just gave the waitress his mobile number — menacing.
Cathy: Aside from the fact that I completely do not understand the concept of Cathy eating “diet cookies”, I do like the final panel.
Beetle Bailey: In any army base around the world, sticking wads of money into a mattress and telling everyone about it would be a very dumb idea. Is that what the joke is supposed to be?
March 10th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Meddling Heights ah ha! Well well well, it didn’t take long for his shortcomings to shine! That’s a record in Worthtime, isn’t it?
MC Oh come on.
Kit Walker, Bangalla Ranger No one lives there but it’s where we have our annual Enemy Mine fesitival every year.
RMMW The Johnny Depp look isn’t working for you, Doc.
Spider-Idiot What, you couldn’t just say, “Hey, I can help out with that but I need a job too! How about paying me a hefty salary to supply NYC with electricity and we’ll call it even? What a deal!” But noooo.
IFHZ Okay, ignorance on parade: What’s a travertine?
March 10th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Comment of the Week: I enjoyed that one even on the comments. It’s like The Comics Curmudgeon meets The Office. Though I doubt Michael Scott would ever make the CotW runners-up list, even.
1959 MW: Looking at ‘59 Mary, she makes the 2009 version look like Maude Findlay (in 1972, of course)
March 10th, 2009 at 2:03 am
information on travertine can be found on the Internets.
Travertine from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Oh for God’s sake, Fable, she’s dropping his backpack on the floor; what the hell do you suppose travertine is? Jelly? Rare edition copies of Dick and Jane? It’s the floor, fool! The floor!
March 10th, 2009 at 2:20 am
True Fable @ 15 and all the other folks ticked off at Jackelrod: Once I get back on my work computer tomorrow, I’ll be setting up one of those nifty email advocacy campaigns to contact Elrod and the King Features folks (one of the perqs of working for an advocacy org. is occasionally being able to use the system for my own crusades), complete with talking points and stats on domestic violence. I’ll post here when it’s ready to launch, and please feel free to pass it on widely.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:49 am
it’s nice to see that these comics evoke as much repulsion today as they did in the 1800s. Legacy comics must die, and if time won’t kill them, I will…
March 10th, 2009 at 2:54 am
If I am traveling in India and 5 year old walks up to me with a 5 foot long cigarette, lights it, sets it on the ground, and proceeds to stare at me with soulless, beady eyes, I can assure you I will be menaced right back to the nearest embassy.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:04 am
Meh, you guys have it great, with your Mary Worths and your Dick Tracys and your Doc Rex Medicine Man. My IHT only has Garfield, Doonsberry, Dilbert, Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts. Oh and Non Sequitur , but that is served up in a 1inch by 1inch square and I don’t have access to a microscope. And possibly Beetle Bailey or Wizard of Id.
But I remember when Peanuts was considered cutting edge and a revolutionary break from the Moon Mullinses and Ferdi’nads and Nancys.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Congratulations all COTWers! You’ve all done an excellent job. Now toss some beads this way.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:30 am
PBS: I admit it: Pig as Rat’s second just became my favorite thing in the world.
March 10th, 2009 at 5:18 am
That tongue is the result of being in the middle of a lick on a lolly. Just the thing for a baby!
March 10th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Anti-smoking efforts. As un-menacing as it gets.
Brenda: Awww, isn’t that sweet. She turned Basil’s message about his disappointingly-small penis into a declaration of love for her son.
A 3-G: Margo’s dad, reduced to delivering pizza!
Baldo: Hey, did you know that retail workers are sometimes lazy and resentful? Do you think the writers of Baldo know anything else?
‘bean: “Good luck with that, though”? He’s not very good at being a smart-ass, is he?
GA: Hate Slim all you want, at least when he was working there, the place was busy.
Mary: Oh no! Embarrassment! And in front of a guy who wears his hat indoors, while eating!
Rex: Oh, please. You know it’s only going to be minutes before Rex is enmeshed in a “Hot Young Garage-Cleaners” site.
Spidey: That’s actually a pretty good Michael Bloomberg. Chin a bit weak in panel one, but then, I imagine he’d be a bit down in the mouth with a blackout.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:51 am
I’m glad to see that even in 1959, Dick Tracey characters are depicted as horribly grotesque creatures. It provides a nice sense of continuity.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:52 am
I didn’t think that was Popsie’s tongue. I thought she was sticking her first two fingers down her throat trying to gag herself. (That’s assuming the hand to the left of the panel belongs to the guy.) That makes sense, right?
Still, a real attempt to draw 1959 tail fins. In 1959. Take note of that, Locher.
Congrats, y’all!
March 10th, 2009 at 7:41 am
JP: for a fourth panel, repeat the 3rd panel replacing the caption with “Did you see those tits, and that fine, fine ass? Girl like that — makes me sweat!”
March 10th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Looking at that old comics page, I can’t help but think… that man, comics were boring as hell in 1959. I don’t mean storywise, I mean visually. Most of them have the same style and are heavily inked. Sure, the strips are larger – huzzah! – but it doesn’t matter much if they look junky anyway.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:09 am
3/10/09
Beetle: I too, like Pvt. Cosmo, feel much safer with my life savings withdrawn from the bank and lying all over my bed and the surrounding floor in my group living barracks. Of course I’m living in a mental health facility because I’m certifiably insane.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Wow! Congrats to all! And Danel, I tried that slurping sound just now. Even if nobody else is around, it’s still amazingly creepy – but difficult to finish off without falling apart laughing!
MW – It’s officially Too Late To Elope. !
March 10th, 2009 at 8:17 am
In today’s Prickley City, is that alien wearing a Goldwater t shirt, or is it just my imagination?
AU H20?
March 10th, 2009 at 8:18 am
So, nobody’s going to point out that the cigarette is shoved up Dennis’ ass? Okay then.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Spider-Man: Okay, perhaps I’m just thinking about this story line wayyy too logically. But can someone, anyone, explain why the citizens are calling the mayor to ask about “..when this blackout will end?”
I know that if I were in a blackout for an extended period, I’d be calling the Electric company, not the freaking mayor!
March 10th, 2009 at 8:25 am
9CL – Amos is sweating because his next proposal will involve the words “Hillary”, “Hahn”, and “threesome”.
FC – So happy for Jeffy that he found someone next to whom he feels powerful.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:31 am
When I first read that Mary Worth strip, I assumed the woman in the middle panel was the Marchesa, and that the comic artist was simply using Mark Trail-style out-of-strip word balloons. Interesting that haughty expressions appear to be a genetic trait in the Mary Worth world.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Dan-31. You know, I was thinking just the opposite.
Chester Gould was a way better artist than whoever does Dick Tracy now. Al Capp and the people who worked for him rocked. Mary Worth was even better drawn.
Are there any well drawn syndicated newspaper comics anymore?
March 10th, 2009 at 8:36 am
JP – Today’s episode could use one of those helpful narration boxes: Sam and Randy sit on the stairs and chat! Sam is the one on the left!
March 10th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Ah, it’s good to be on the float again. I’m tossing beads as fast as I can.
Anonymous: I had no idea Frank Frazettta drew Lil’ Abner. No wonder Daisy Mae used to make me feel “funny”.
MW The riches of todays strip just overwhelm me. The beginning of the unraveling of lounge lizard Ted’s machinations, the look of sheer horror (complete with melodramatic gestures) from Adrian at this devastating news (she realizes that this means that the 29.9 interest has kicked in), and the snotty, superior look on the face of Blue Cap Guy. He looks like he’s dropped in from Mark Trail because you can’t get a decent cup of coffee in Lost Forest.
Speaking of Mark–this is just sick.
JT Okay, Baretto, now the guys are making eyes at each other (and loosening their ties)–when did this turn into “Queer as Folk”?
Popeye I want an atomic baby explosion NOW!
Archie At first I thought Veronica was wearing a crop top. If she is those are the most grotesque folds of loose flesh I’ve ever seen.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Oh, and Spider-Man? In a city that has known terrorist attacks in its recent history don’t you think that the city command center might have a slightly more advanced emergency power back up system than Snuffy Smith’s lantern?
March 10th, 2009 at 8:44 am
A3G – Today, Margo gets a special visitor: telepuppet M-M-Martin Headroom, whose unflappably cheery demeanor and lack of deep emotion and arms has the Imelda Marcos of the comics page in a tizzy.
Archie – “I had my personal maid draw it up for you!” That explains why it says “Happy Feast of Goibnu” in Malaysian.
C2Home – Dental floss spider web — sounds like a great way to get deep cuts on your fingers and other places. Another stupid idea shot in its misshapen remaining foot by haphazardly apathetic execution.
Cshaft – Yeah, Eugene. You stayed away for sixty years because you didn’t get a reply. What utter trust you seem to have placed in the Post Office, genius.
Dbury – “That’s right, Rollie. The Komodo Dragon is the world’s largest living lizard.”
R=R – Presumably the funny thing here is that they’re morons.
Zits – If nothing else, it got me to look up “travertine.” Huh. Stone floor tiles. That’s only slightly funnier than the strip.
anon @39 – Judge Parker is pretty well drawn. Gasoline Alley, in its way. Bizarro is neatly executed. Tom the Dancing Bug is exemplary. I’d go on, but that would mean looking at everything again, and I don’t wanna.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Congrats to the winners!
MT: “I hope I’m not as bad as I acted”? What kind of philosophical conundrum is that? Sounds like Mark Twain’s backhanded tribute to Wagner: “He’s not as bad as he sounds.”
March 10th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Josh–thanks for the link to those old comics. Seeing them kinda reminds me how I got into comics in the first place. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the illustration of the airplane in the JP. If only this page had shown one of the Steves–Canyon or Roper.
And congrats to all the float riders, especially Bootsy!
Note to Poteet: do you remember the DT storyline involving Junior and Model? That was my favorite comic strip story ever!
March 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am
MT: “I want to wish you and Patty a lot of happiness…. Just don’t grow any facial hair.”
March 10th, 2009 at 9:18 am
M Trail — Awww. Ken is offering to make amends by offering Mark a hand job (panel one). And so another episode of Mark Trail comes to a happy ending!
Mary Worth — Apparently the news that something is wrong with the credit card has made Adrian’s head shrink radically. And how the hell did Elmer Fudd end up in this strip?
Phantom — I find it interesting that everytime someone mentions Croccos, a little inset pops up to remind us what they are. If you have to reinforce the storyline that much, it’s time go come up with another menace that is easier to buy into. “Next week: New adventure! Trip to Chimpo Island!”
Gas Alley — I’ve noticed over the years that occasionally Scancarelli adds a character that is drawn more true to life, not like his mainstays. Does anyone know if these add-ins, such as today’s Earl E. Byrd is a real person? Perhaps a shout-out on someone Scancarelli has targeted for a mob-hit?
Zombie Foob — And I thought the last days of Gwanpa Jim was excruciating; now we get to relive it from the start. I wonder if his chinnuts will be as saggy…?
March 10th, 2009 at 9:21 am
9CL: Amos’ mountain of lies continues to implode. First, he is withholding his encounter with and note from Hilary Hahn. That pales against the knowledge that it was he who earlier tipped off the balloonist and other camera people that he and Edda were having sex so that he would have photographic proof that a real female would actually willingly have sex with him.
Archie: “Look, Archie, my maid even rubbed her coochie on it for you!”
Crank: The rose was a nice touch. It only got unfortunate when he started urinating on the coffin.
DTM: “Dennis, your mother knows what I expect after my meals. ‘Backdoor shyness’ is a lame excuse. This waitress here is far more receptive. Now…if you both will excuse me…I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.”
CircusJerk: “Man, all that drama just because I told you that you were NOT adopted.”
FW: Excellent. We have our favorite candidate now for the Columbine-style attack on the school in an upcoming Batiuk classic storyline.
Hi/Lois: “I can just smell her discarded tampons. Oh joy!”
GA: “You use a lot of cow metaphors.”
“Moo-er, I mean, yes, I dooooo.”
Luann: Yes….the triangle nobody demanded as sexually-ambiguous TJ and the hair helmet Elwood fight for the love of Luann. You can almost see a square forming with Brad in yet another corner…please avert your eyes.
S-M: Mayor-”Huh, who are you?”
Electro-”I is Electro: Master of Electricity.”
Mayor-”Since when? What happened to the little guy”
Electro- “Little guy?”
(Over the intercom)- “That right. Master Blaster run New York town.”
Mayor-”I told you no more embargos, Master Blaster.”
March 10th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Why in the hell is Dennis The Menace a brunette with a cigarette poked up his butt?
March 10th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Congrats to all the funny commentators! I laughed quite a bit!
On an unrelated note after reading Dick Tracy today I will never again touch a slot machine with my bare skin. I wonder how the writers will work in horrific carnage with this storyline of Snuffy Smith’s descent into gambling horror, but if any strip can do it they can!
March 10th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Crankshaft: The only way this could get better is if Eugene now has a coronary and drops dead at the coffin, to be found frozen stiff by the gravediggers, who to avoid paperwork, just toss him in on top of the casket.
JP: Nees more tits.
FW: I’m too tired to look up durinal, is that last panel supposed to be some sort of pun?
March 10th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Thanks to that comics page I have learned two important things:
1) Why old people love strips like “Hi & Lois” and “Garfield”, both of which are infinitely funnier and more interesting than anything on that page.
2) The historical context of airline hijacking. Ah, for the halcyon days of the 1950s, when a clearly sketchy man wearing dark glasses could buy a one-way ticket to Los Angeles three minutes before the plane left. TSA: You’ve come a long way, baby.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Judge Parker: In 1959, a man could buy a plane ticket and leave in three minutes. In 2009, a one-night party is still going on after several weeks. Is this progress?
March 10th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Luann: Sorry, TJ, knowing the #3 soybean exporting country is a mark of remembering disconnected trivia, not a mark of genius.
MT: You know how the song “If I Had a Million Dollars” lets it gradually slip that the “narrator” is about ten years old? I think Elrod let a Cub Scout troop do the Patty-Bucky-Ken story: Ken hits Patty and shoots the deer, but then it’s all better ’cause he’s sorry, and he missed the deer. And they couldn’t have a baby before, but now they can because Ken says it’s okay (Elrod: “Boys, it doesn’t really work that w- oh, never mind.”). All we need is a simple-minded deus ex machina to save the business, and ta-daa!
It still doesn’t explain why Mark leaped to the other side of Ken’s bed between Panels 1 and 2 today.
If Elrod was really slick, he’d have the Cub Scouts themselves appear in the final cartoon panels, like when Calvin and Susie are playing “grown-ups”.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
3/10
Two notes
1) Congratulations to the funny folks on the float.
2) Somehow Mary Worth was less frightening when she had more wrinkles.
And onto today’s comic.
MT: Right Fist o’ Justice? Sadly, nowhere in sight. If only Ken’s fiscal downward spiral had caused him to skimp on shaving, things might have been different.
6C: The American Newspaper Guild reminds you that there’s no way you can houebreak a puppy on some dumb website. We now return you to your regular programming.
SSmith: Don’t do it, anonymous mill workers. The floating poker game is just window dressing for Snuffy and Lukey’s organ harvesting business.
H&L: But can a big goofy red bow really make up for the stench of discarded diapers?
A3G: Surprisingly, Martin Magee does not look like every other man in New York. No, he’s much seedier and more desperate. I have the feeling he’ll try to sell his estranged daughter a set of kitchen knives that “cut like a dream.”
FW: The classroom showdown between Les Moore and Cory Winkerbean. What happens when loathsome force meets detestable object? We’re about to find out.
Luann: Well, rent boys do a lot of travelling. Not that mysterious when you think about it.
DT: How is it that Dick can’t tell where BO Plenty is. He’s right in front of them. Either that or the casino rebuilt New Hampshire’s Old Man on the Mountain on its wall.
Phantom: The Crocco is about to provide News for the Hard of Hearing. IN OTHER NEWS, GENERALISIMO FRANCISCO FRANCO IS STILL DEAD!
FC: Jeffy is sinking pretty low to prove that he’s butcher than someone, even if it’s just his infant brother. Next he’ll order PJ to drop and give him twenty.
DtM: “Well, alleged son, that’s because cooking is just a hobby for your mother. Professionally, she’s a whore. Wow, how many glasses have I had, anyway?”
S-M: Did Mike Bloomberg give official permission for the Spider-cartoonists to use his likeness? And did he know that he’d be sitting in his office doing absolute bupkis during a city-wide emergency? Although that’s just another way of saying that he fits right in.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Is that old bag Mary Worth or Aunt May? Nah, it can’t be Aunt May. Boring as it may be,the strip is much more exciting than your average Spider-man “adventure”.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:00 am
@51: Diurnal is an animal that is active during the daytime as opposed to nocturnal or crepuscular, so ya I don’t really know if that’s part of the joke or if the kid is just being a smartass.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Diurnal (From Merriam Webster online)
1 a: recurring every day [diurnal tasks} b: having a daily cycle [diurnal tides]
2 a: of, relating to, or occurring in the daytime [the city's diurnal noises] b: active chiefly in the daytime [diurnal animals] c: opening during the day and closing at night [diurnal flower]
Hence Cory’s snarky remark about “Good luck with that”, in other words, good luck keeping him awake during the day.
And now that I’ve completely overanalyzed FW today…..
March 10th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Unless I miss my guess, Popsie in the ‘59 strip is licking a popsicle absentmindedly in her grief. Dick Tracy always did have a sense of humor, after all.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:17 am
So what is it about twittering that’s so awesome Doonesbury evidently finds itself compelled to spend a second consecutive week on it?
Say, Maybe Trudeau’ll have Roland transferred to Brussels, and then he can spend the next eight months on this plot line.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: 1959 Mary Worth had to be the model for Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate.
Apropos of nothing: Why does every woman in Mark Trail remind me of Patsy Cline?
March 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
#54 Peter Hillock:
You know how the song “If I Had a Million Dollars” lets it gradually slip that the “narrator” is about ten years old?
It does?? Where does it do that?
March 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
GT: Ashley is my new comic goddess (replacing the late, barking insane charm of Dixie Julep). Ashley’s tough, athletic, smart, witty, and she works in a convenience store selling Nut Boy to help her parents get through tough economic times. And when it comes to teaching the Cosby kids about growing up and not letting parents run your teenage, non-euclidean life, she’s a sexy, blue-collar Obi-wan Kenobi. Writers of other drama/serial strips should take note of how her character was developed economically through conversation with friends, job, family, sports, and flirting with Bryce.
Of course, coming to this conclusion forces me to acknowledge that I have followed a couple of weeks of Gil Thorp, understood a plotline, recognized and indeed developed understanding and empathy for the characters, and begun to immerse myself in the fictional world it creates. The doctors say that increasing the dosage of my mediation could be dangerous, but they admit that there is little choice…
FW: The hope that the asshole gene would skip a generation was never more than the temporary and vain triumph of optimism over biological certainty. More tragic is that at least Funky only suffered adult onset Dickweed Syndrome (possibly triggered, like diabetes, by morbid obesity and related lifestyle factors), while his son inherited the strain that emerges in its most virulent form at puberty.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
#59 kevin –
Every Dick Tracy character has exactly one gimmick — it is the ürtext for Law and Order.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
It never occurred to me that Mary Worth might be doing away with folks for their money. I always just assumed they paid her to meddle.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Examples:
Mary Worth is a Diurnal Meddler
FOOB is a diurnal mess
March 10th, 2009 at 10:30 am
That 1959 comics page is pretty cool. It also has more strips on it than most papers carry these days.
The 1959 Gasoline Alley strip is notable for featuring Judy Wallet, then 24, who has appeared in the strip maybe three times in the 20-odd years I’ve been reading it. Just one of the many characters cast aside in favor of the continuing adventures of Rufus and Joel or Clovia and
Peter GriffinSlim.March 10th, 2009 at 10:32 am
#62 – I’d buy you some art
or a Garfunkel
The song “Grade 9″ might do that, but I never thought Steven was singing from the point of a 10 year old in Million…
March 10th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Helena@20 Thanks. I hit a wall with outrage, not even enough to snark.
kalki@48: Hey, Electro! I’m here! Two strips enter, one strip whines and frets.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
JP: Ahh…. loosen that necktie more…. need more neckskin….
Hey, I’ll take what I can get.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
My only observations about the 1959 comics page are:
1.) Dick Tracy has always had the most godawful ugly humans ever drawn (OK, I will grant they are INTENTIONALLY drawn that way, unlike several strips we can all think of…)
2.) It’s fascinating to see comics when they were actually drawn by their original creators.! Like staring back into the Big Bang. Of course, many of these comics were already dying husks by the 50s anyway
March 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Luann: This is going to end with Luann on the couch with TJ calling him Papi Chulo. I just know it.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Popsie is licking a lollipop. That’s why her name is Popsie. It’s Dick Tracy, remember?
March 10th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I hate Edge City so much. Who the fuck panics when the door locks on them? I do not understand how these people even manage to feed themselves without getting forks in their ears, which you would think would lead to an appropriately short lifespan terminated either by starvation or tetanus, but no, they just keep stumbling and fumbling around like whiny, retarded energizer bunnies.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:25 am
FW: Batiuk discovers the thesaurus–or has been taking mail-order classes from Brooke, given today’s installment.
’shaft: Eugene was killed in the war. Guess he “un-died”.
Master Softheart @ 63: Cory is Funky’s stepson, so the argument is reduced to “nature vs. nurture”.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:28 am
On that old 1959 comics page, has anyone else noticed a striking resemblance between “Dotty” (a strip I’d never heard of before) and Blondie? Was the inevitable battle between the two strips like some sort of print-based precursor to Highlander?
March 10th, 2009 at 11:29 am
#54 – Oh, I’m getting it-was it the “Tree Fort” reference?
Funny, in the US it’s a “Tree House”, but in Canada it’s called a “Tree Fort.”
On a side note-our adopted kitten has been climbing trees all week-he’s making me almost as crazy as Mary Worth does.
And that ‘59 Dick Tracy is going to give me some horrible nightmares for a long, long time.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Ok, I’m no Spider-Man fan, not especially, but I’ve long wondered this: is Aunt May Peter’s AUNT or his GREAT-aunt? Or even his great-great-aunt? Cuz, like, he’s a college schmoe, basically a teenager, and she looks like she’s well over 100.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Potentially interesting new webcomic: Car Bombs. ’bout two dozen strips so far.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:52 am
51. CFSP re JP and the need for tits: sometimes you just need to move the plot along. I don’t know if Sam and Randy chatting on the staircase qualifies, though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/3343754979/sizes/o/
March 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am
spike #75 – Eugene died in the war? I’d forgotten that. Maybe Batiuk has gotten too efficient at killing off his characters, so that he has to bring them back to life in order to re-kill them, preferably by something more lingering this time.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I miss Al Scaduto.
These days, I find often find myself with “the urge”…
…to micromanage my boss to the moon!
…to scramble my husband’s eggs but good!
…to settle the hash of these bigwigs on Wall Street.
It’s enough to make a grown man cry!
(or, woman)
March 10th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
81. Winky’s spleen: behold the power of Barney, the Cat o’ Death!
This is why cats were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt…
March 10th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
75, 81 & 83 If Eugene died in the war, then who is this fella? Oh no…don’t tell me…Eugene had a twin too? What are the odds that Lillian will find a hook-up at her sister’s funeral?
March 10th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Actually Gleeb the message in Baldo is that non-Hispanic workers are lazy. Baldo constantly bashes the non-Hispanic whites.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
fluffy @76 – Yes. seismic-2 was the first to comment on that resemblance, back on the 5th of March.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Correction: it was Dingo. Whoops.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
#80 – LOL!
Next on Intervention – “My name is Randy, and I’m just that! *hic* “
March 10th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
y’know with that black hair, dennis looks more like a younger version of that guy that owns Marmaduke. What’s his name again? Oh yeah. Hitler.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2009/week1/index.html
March 10th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
JP: Aside from the lack of mammaries I’m already more interested in retro JP than the meandering crap I’ve been following since I found this site.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
MT – OK, I’ve been staying out of the Elrod-bashing. There are others here who clearly have better qualifications and more personal experience with domestic violence, and you’ve spoken more eloquently on the issue than I could. But…”You don’t need to apologize”? REALLY? I mean, at the very LEAST – as a STARTING POINT – a heartfelt apology is the BARE MINIMUM we should be hearing from Ken. If Mark doesn’t want to chastise or judge him, well, that’s a little wussy, but OK. But to tell an abuser “You don’t have to apologize”? Mark has officially gone from disingenuous to apologist. Sheesh. I hope Bucky’s antlers gave them both tetanus.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
“I’ll get on the web and see if I can pin down this bug!” sez Rex Morgan, M.D, “and by “web” I mean Second Officer Guido Tomas, and by “bug” I mean his hot sweaty man self, and by “pin down” well, I mean, pin down. I’m done here. Where’s the web?”
S-M: Electro is so lame, he doesn’t even warrant a ?! from the mayor.
And hey, # 45, Your Divinityness! Where yat?
March 10th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Here’s another Daily Mirror page, from 1949!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/files/1949_0129_comics.jpg
March 10th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Day one without Mark Trail.
Much, much better.
Helena @20, I’m waiting.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
# 94 Anonymous — Oh joy, it’s a little of the Dumpington Van Lump saga, one of my favorite L’il Abner storylines! *sniff* Thank you!
And the language in Gasoline Alley (regional? ethnic? Pennsylvania-Dutch?) (”to do with”) is great. As is seeing Terry and the Pirates again.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
# 96 — I look at that 1949 page and I see action and interesting art, even in the gag strips.
*Sigh*
March 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hey! It’s time for “slept in way too long and have to go to work in half an hour” abbreviated snark!
A3G – YES! MORE PUT-DOWNS, MULE!
BBlue – Wow. It wasn’t just a one-off gag. I can’t wait for upcoming strips, wherein Hammie discovers a community of people just like him on the Internet.
Crankshaft – “Here. Have a flower. In a few short days, it’ll be just as dead as you.”
FC – Best Family Circus ever. MORE TEARS, DAMMIT! MORE!
FW – We’re supposed to hate him, but I rather like Cory for being the only character to realize how monumentally pointless life in the Winkerverse is. If you’re going to contract a fatal malady during your prime, what’s the point of learning trivia?
GT – Finally, someone around here shows a little spine. Cripes.
JP – Randy, why are you tugging at your collar and getting hot for her now, when she’s left? You twit.
Love Is… – drugs.
Luann – Oh no.
MT – …
MW – !
MC – Hmm, she’s the kind of girl who just looks better without make-up. The suit is pretty adorable, though.
PBS – Rat has discovered the solution to all life’s problems. I commend him for it.
Phantom – YES, NARRATION BOX, WE KNOW.
PC – Man, space aliens and manga holes? Why was Prickly City ever a political strip in the first place?
Popeye – Everybody in this strip is high on something. That’s the only explanation.
RMMD – Whoa! Time for some extreme Mark Trail-style facial closeups! And for God’s sake don’t let Rex near the Internet.
SM – Is that all? The state legislature probably spends that much on lunch.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
On one hand, I’m delighted to see that the LA Times Daily Mirror Blog’s co-author Larry Harnisch reads the curmudgeon, but on the other hand, it means I have nothing else useful to contribute.
The other author is Keith Thursby.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
85, re Baldo: You’d think that, but in the larger context of the strip, Baldo can clearly be seen not doing chores for his father, not doing homework (or doing it poorly), and being generally bit of a drone. It’s only when he comes to his craptacular job that he even suggests that someone is worse than he is, and that’s saying something, since he is generally quite rude to customers. I think the message is that the incompetent think they’re competent. (Full disclosure: I misspelled competent the first time) If I were Mr Rod, I probably would have promoted Beatriz, before either Baldo or the even more-poorly characterized lazy teenager whose name escapes me.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
# 45 Divine — No, I don’t remember that one, alas. I’ll keep an eye out for it. And I only read the Summer Sisters saga in a compilation.
But someday, by gum, I’m going to look up the Little Pineapple story and find out how it ended. Ah, the childhood frustration of having to return home from Grandma and Grandpa’s house, where the paper carries DT, before the DT story ends.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
#100 gleeb – Yeah, Baldo is just kind of stereotypical and mean to everybody. Which is why I stopped reading it.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Crank — I was already quite annoyed at Eugene for “proposing” in such a lame-ass way. And now, if he in fact was never killed in the war but still just dawdled around in suspense about the fate of his letter for sixty years, I’m going to root for frostbite and subsequent fatal gangrene.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
And yet somehow, nothing from 1959 is as irritating as Buckygate ‘09.
Also, I’d totally read Dondi.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
#94 Anonymous: Comments on the ol’ comics (in no particular order)
Nancy – I didn’t know Sluggo was once a fatty.
Gasoline Alley – Hey, they actually draw it better now.
Dotty Dripple: A Blondie knock off.
Ella Cinders: I love the phrase, “OH, SHUT UP, YOU OLD CRAB!” Could be a T-Shirt.
Candy: Panel 1 – What kind of flipper is that for a hand?
Mary Worth: She was a real old goat back then.
Napoleon: Great dog expressions!
Rex Morgan M.D. – Panel 2 – that cig looks like it’s drawn on the wall, not in her mouth.
Looks like they had a lot more “serial” comics back in 1949. Josh, you would have love living back then.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
#96 – The folks from Minnesota and the Mid-Northern States (a lot of Norwegian family tree there) sometimes say “Do you want to come with?”
Meaning, Do you want to come with us/me?
March 10th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
You have to hand it to the Lockhorns for today’s brazen depiction of Leroy surrounded by empties and obviously completely shitfaced. (Er, I’m not totally sure what “it” is that you have to hand them, but I would wear thick gloves while you’re doing it.)
March 10th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Also, you quite probably don’t read Lola, but today’s episode is about a bird shitting on someone. Quality stuff, definitely check that one out.
(Let’s hope the target has heard the wise man’s advice about what not to do when a bird shits on you.)
March 10th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
100 & 102 Yesterday, Baldo and his sister couldn’t figure out where the Himalayas are. I think it was supposed to be humor showing Baldo’s stupidity, which is shown quite often, rather than some sort of racial statement (one way or another). It seems like the message of the strip is that there are stupid and lazy people of all ethnic persuasions. Is it prejudiced if Chip in Hi and Lois is shown to be an equally lazy and stupid teenager?
It is kind of pointless to try and find deep and unbiased social commentary in the comic pages.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
# 106 Calico — Thanks! Perhaps you can clear up another mystery for me. I know a couple of farmers around here who occasionally, at the end of their sentences, add “and that.” Do you happen to know where “and that” comes from?
March 10th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Man alive, you guys are hilarious.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I agree that Popsie is licking a popsicle in panel 2.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
# 94 — It looks like this DT strip shows a pair of sisters trying to drown someone. Were sister perps a recurrent theme in DT? I wonder if this pair will end up dead like the Summer Sisters. “Dead” was definitely a recurrent theme in DT.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
This business in the 1949 Dotty strip about how men are easily manipulated by their appetites is a complete fabrication and if someone will be so kind as to bake me a banana cream pie I will totally prove my point by, um, not letting you buy a hat.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Winky’s Spleen @ 81, kalki @ 84 and Poteet @ 103: I may be wrong, but I do recall Lillian telling the Lucy/Eugene saga (with appropriate accompanying sepia-toned memory panels) a few years ago. The plot was identical in that Lillian opened the letter addressed to her sister, saw it was a marriage proposal and then kept it from Lucy, Eugene went off to war and was killed (or at least was never heard from again) and Lucy went on to become an old maid, having lost the love of her life and never mentioned him again.
(Poteet: TB lacks the imagination to use frostbite and gangrene, but I very much agree with you to a point. It could be that Eugene used the mail to avoid Lillian’s Armageddon-level glares–just a thought.)
bats :[ @ 83: Capital suggestion!!! Can you combine Barney et. al. for us? Puh-leeeeze???? :-)
March 10th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Doesn’t have to be banana cream, really, I believe strawberry-rhubarb could be used to equal rhetorical effect.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Gaze upon that vintage comics page and weep for what we’ve lost. Sure, the soap strips were spinning their wheels even then and the gag strips were not appreciably funnier than they are now, but what gorgeous line work! Notice how the relatively sparse Nancy really stands out on this page. Nowadays, every humor strip sort of looks like Nancy, so the original (which still clings to life) is nothing special.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
# 114 Wolfdog — Times have also changed in that baking your man a banana cream pie nowadays might be simultaneously regarded as an attempt to bribe him and an attempt to slowly kill him.
I’ve never really recovered from my media content analysis class, and now I find it entertaining to watch TV food ads portraying women trying to please their families with healthy food (”we promise your family members won’t run screaming from THIS healthy meal!”) while other ads encourage women to just give up on the healthy part and focus on putting great big smiles on Hubby and Kiddies’ faces by unsubtly saying that it’s much better for a family to sit around the dinner table together eating saturated fat than not to have family meals at all.
Oops, sorry. Guess that was kind of a rant.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
# 115 spike — Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it.
I should clarify also by saying that I think it was fine for Eugene to use a letter to propose. The incredibly dumb part was saying that if he didn’t hear from Lucy, he’d assume her answer was no. On such a vital matter, he should not have just trusted the Post Office. Or Lillian, for that matter. I presume he knew they lived together and that Lucy didn’t have her own locked mailbox.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
115. spike: I did a couple of Barney mashups a few days ago, but since he seems to have accomplished his mission, I’m not going to deal with Crankshaft any longer. Here they are, if you’d like a peek. (Yes, having Barney around makes reading Crankshaft easier, like having Bucky Katt (not Bucky the deer) in Mark Trail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/3334011851/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/3340702132/sizes/o/
I’m really liking the 40s and 50s funny papers. I think Mary Worth is a lot more insidious, looking like a kindly old grandma. Rex Morgan kind of messes with my head as I realize that he hasn’t aged at all (hell, Mary was always a crone!).
March 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
#110 – Ooooh – that I have no idea about.
I know about the “with” thingy because my best friend’s family in family was originally (in the US, that is) from MN.
Here’s a phrase from VT, though:
You say “How are ya?”
The response is “Gud, n’you?”
Gotta love it.
Josh, do they still say “Hun” or “Hon” in Baltimore in response to a person? “I’m from Ballmer, Hon.”
(I was born in Annapolis, so kind of knew the lingo way back when)
March 10th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Ops-typo. pls. excuse “in family”
March 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
bats :[ @120: Thanks for the links. The second one especially rocks!
March 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I’m extraordinarily surprised you failed to comment on the overuse of exclamation points in the Rex Morgan, M.D. strip.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
A3G: Aw, there’s Martin Magee and his little Martinette — that should read “Martinet”, actually.
BBlues: “How do you get me into these things?” What is he, Major Anthony Nelson? I’ll bet his boss regularly says, “He’s done it to me again!”
Cleats: Aw, it’s nice to see ol’ Roger Ebert up, around, and critiquing again.
DtM: Dennis the Feminist.
DT: I didn’t need to see spitting in the palms (pre-rubbing them together) in slo-mo. Yecch! Also — I never knew that tough-guy Dick had really long eyelashes.
ReFOOB: The kids don’t want to stay home with Papa John because Rod is a jerk.
FW: Why is Cory looking at us? Does he expect US to answer his quiz question? Man, a kid gets lazy when there’s a perfectly good readership to pawn his work of off, doesn’t he?
GT: Lady, if you really knew what’s right, you’d take that fist of yours over to Mark Trail and do Trail’s freakin’ job for him! Target Ken… then Trail… then Elrod.
MT: Speaking of which…. Damn, it’s bad enough Elrod/Trail don’t even care to understand the nature of spousal abuse and potential child abuse and curse out that rat at the very least — but the man is also a dispoiler of the environment with his logging business, fer cryin’ out loud! Not to mention he shot at a deer. What kind of supposed nature lovers are these people??! Holy cow!
H&J: Shouldn’t she be listening to AM radio while thinking that?
MW: “Not only are you a deadbeat, sir, but you also used a fake name. You claim to be ‘Ted Confey’, but the correct name here is ‘Snidely Madoff’!”
OBH: “Only if they’re preachy vegetarians, Rose!”
Ghost-Who-May-Know-Tor-Johnson-Personally: Once again, from the Satellite of Love, Joel riffs in a growly voice: “Nobody lives there — except me, of course! I hope you’re enjoying Pop-Up-Comics. See ya later, I’m sure, folks!”
Popeye: They’d come to know the event as The Baby Boom. (ducks behind large object)
RMMD: It’s good to see Mel Blanc being thankful to Harry Hamlin… I guess…
March 10th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I was curious where “that’s what she said” came from, as a sexual joke, after seeing it snarked copiously recently; it was something I had never heard. Thanks to a headline from the Onion AV Club, I now see why: I’ve never watched The Office. Once again, between there and here, my casual knowledge of contemporary slang and references continues to be updated. :)
March 10th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Brevity: WEEKS DON’T WORK THAT WAY!!! A week is 7 days. Annual Clamato Week should have ended last Friday.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
9CL: Alas, this strip suddenly springs true to life. Amos is weighing chasing the unknown quantity of the possibly sane Hillary Hahn or staying with the known and definitely insane Edda. Does he break Edda’s heart and possibly his own and go for something that might be wonderful? Or does he anesthetize his soul and stay with the mediocre forever?
Curse this universal theme stuff, just when I want to hate it.
MT: I’m so on board with the official complaint thing proposed above. One of my friends just DIED from DV, and this story line is seriously not ok.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
In re: the 1959 comics page, would anyone else like to see On Stage make a comeback? I feel that the pervy gossip columnist who phones his editor while touching himself could really speak to our times.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
What are you saying, Josh? Dennis IS menacing. Look at how he’s dyed his hair black. He’s so hardcore, but that’s because no one understands him.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hm, if anything I would say Dennis is looking a bit emo there, and bursting into tears at the drop of a hat because you’re so-so-sensitive is absolutely no-one’s idea of menacing.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
#126 Niall,
I don’t think The Office actually invented “That’s what she said.” although it has popularized the phrase. I seem to remember it from “Wayne’s World” and it was probably used on playgrounds decades before that. But yes, it’s popularirty has spiked recently.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Poteet, I am Anonymous #94, anonymous no longer. I’m glad to make you happy with some old Li’l Abner. Poking around some more on the site, I found a Sunday Li’l Abner from 1938. Man, they gave us a lot more on Sunday back then than they do now!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/files/1938_0327_abner.jpg
March 10th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
If you do not want to see Tomorrow’s Zits, Rose is Rose, Pickles, Cathy, Funky Winkerbean, B.C, For Better or For Worse, Pearls Before Swine, Judge Parker, Rex Morgan, Mary Worth & Garfield DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!
http://ab8.thebeaconjournal.com/Archives/03-10-09/B11.pdf?DATE=03-10-09
(Ah, Akron Beacon Urinal, 1 mistake away from closing.)
March 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Bootsy: I’m around, just not usually here, alas, because no time. But I think of y’all often.
Poteet: the Junior/Model story was so dramatic! So heartbreaking! I think I was about 14 when it ran, and sooooo influenced by romantic tales.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
“As long as my mojo’s still working,” thinks Ted, “I don’t need no stinkin’ credit cards! Alls I gotta do is keep ol’ Dogface, whoops, Queenie, ‘!‘ing all night long, and she’ll completely forget about having footed the bill each time “I” took “her” out to eat!”
Concerning Crankshaft — I, for one, really like the concept of idiots relying on unreliable methods to conduct their courtships. They never got to reproduce, did they. Yay proposal-by-post!
#102 commodorejohn – Oh, not quite everybody… Baldo strikes me as pretty regularly commending Gracie for being such a smart, strong-willed, industrious, ambitious little woman. God how I hate her. I assume she’s supposed to be the sort of character a feminist would love, but I find her as obnoxious as Scrappy Doo… in fact, I seem to remember her using the expression “Chica power!” at one point, and I couldn’t help but gag.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
If anyone wants to follow the old Lil’ Abner strips, the’re available at Comics.com . You can have any of their comics delivered free to you email address every morning. Right now it’s in the Fearless Fosdick (parody of Dick Tracy) mode right now. Not only is Fosdick drawn better the Dick Tracy, the stories are better too.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
134 – P…
Tomorrow’s FW — I’m pretty sure that what Cory suggests next will be anatomically impossible for a teenage male.
Tomorrow’s Garfield — Consider never reading this strip again on my to-do list.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
A3g- A kiss and a hug from Margo? That’s a sure invitation to have your soul sucked out of your mouth and your body to shrivel up and crumble to dust.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Ok, folks, here’s the link for the online action to contact Jack Elrod & King Features Syndicate about the Mark Trail domestic violence storyline. Fell free to pass it around to contact lists, and post it widely, and hammer them with complaints about the way this was handled.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
The original blog posting is
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2009/01/fierce-fighting.html
March 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Wow, this is my fifth consecutive week on the float, so I’ve run out of both beads (which is forgivable) and interesting snark (which is not, given the targets that this week’s funnies have already tossed our way). Sorry!
Hmmm… I can’t decide whether dark-haired Dennis gives off vibes more of being one of the cloned Hitlers from Boys from Brazil vibe or Damien the Antichrist from The Omen. That’s disconcerting, because either way, Henry Mitchell has to be Gregory Peck. It’s probably neither one, though, since this is a far worse threat – a kid whose flatulence is so no-stop and toxic that he has to light his farts at the end of a three-foot-long tube from his ass. Well, at least now we know why his pajamas always have that open butt-flap.
GT: OK, projective geometry fans, based on the relative positions of the arms, is there any possible position of the illumination source in panel two that would cast that shadow on the exploding door from the figure who stands in front of it? I didn’t think so, either. So apparently the shadow is actually the silhouette of the conductor in the orchestra pit, as Mrs. Larkin launches into her rendition of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”.
FC: Well, say what you will about PJ, at least he does a great imitation of Rush Limbaugh as Pagliacci.
MW: Ah, Ted does not play his little schemes alone! In panel two we finally see the presence of his partner, Genghis Con!
FW: Cory, surely you know the mnemonic device in the Batiukverse for remembering that diurnal means “a daily occurence”? It goes like this: “In the Batiukverse, it is a daily occurence that someone dies and is urned.”
March 10th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
134: SPOILER ALERT FOR JP: Strip almost wasted by Old Farts sitting on the stairs, saved by background NPC ass.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
The only way to really tell if that is Judge Parker is to keep reading and see how long those three minutes take. My guess is halfway into the Johnson administration.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
#97 – That’s how tough the economy is these days, kids. Even the background art in comic strips has had to be downsized.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Thank you Helena Handbasket!
March 10th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
# 133 Fletch — Thank you! And you are so right about Sundays.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Does anyone else find the 1959 Gasoline Alley to have sapphic undertones? The blond unbuttons her blouse while the brunette in a bed says, “You have plenty of chances, Judy, you’re just too picky”. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Today’s (okay,1953’s) Dick Tracy bears more than a passing resemblance to The Scream, in my opinion. Or at least a horror movie creature of some sort.
March 11th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Here’s the amazing thing: Even in 1959, Judge Parker’s storyline is still on yesterday.
March 11th, 2009 at 1:51 am
Thanks for sending that link. I love old comics, and it’s rare that I read Nancy and actually laugh.
March 11th, 2009 at 4:59 am
That Dick Tracy strip is simply horrifying. I took one look at it and screamed, such a scream that my roommate–who’d seen the picture earlier–immediately knew what I was reacting to without even looking at my computer screen.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:57 am
What I found most interesting about the 1959 L.A. Times comics page wasn’t so much for what we’ve lost, but how much, fifty years later, is still with us! Out the 18 strips reprinted here, 8 (Nancy, Brenda Starr,Mary Worth, Judge Parker, Dick Tracy, Gasoline Alley, Ferd’nand and Rex Morgan, MD) are still with us – a survival rate of 44.4%: not bad after half a century!
Of course, that says nothing to the quality of the product (*cough* Dick Tracy *cough*) – but the longevity of some “legacy” strips is amazing….
March 11th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
It’s already been pointed out that “Dotty” is a Blondie knock-off, but I was amazed at how blatant it was. It’s like the creators said “We’ve removed one of Dagwood’s weird antennae, and now no-one will ever suspect! Muahahahaha! Now to do our superhero strip The Jungle Ghost.”
March 11th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
The 1949 page linked in an earlier post has some interesting stuff, too–particularly the comic-opera Russians in Brenda Starr. Yes indeedovitch. The Russian woman looks just like Brenda in a fur hat–do you suppose there was some sort of impersonation/mistaken-identity shtick later in the story?
I’m pretty sure that’s Skeezix and Nina in the 1949 Gasoline Alley, and Nina looks amazingly svelte considering she’s going to have a baby in about four months (Clovia was born on 5/15/49).
March 12th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Want to watch yourself on real TV? Uploaded.TV gives you this chance of uploading your video, in three simple steps in http://www.uploaded.tv and making an appearance on real TV, anywhere across the world.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Why is Rod Blagojevich on that “No Smoking” poster?
March 16th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I find that this anti-smoking ad is the closest thing Dennis will get to being menacing.
Not right away of course.
We have to wait at least 24 hours after posting for some high school kids to change “not” to “pot.”
Then it’s a menacing drug endorsement as all get go.